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http://www.durgan.org/URL/?MMFGS 6 May 2012 Collard
Eight collard plants were place in the outdoor garden. The seedlings were purchased in a flat and transplanted into pots and kept in the greenhouse for seven days to establish a strong root system. This is my first effort at growing collard.

Slightly off topic Durgan but does anyone know if there is an alternative UK term for collards? We don't seem to have it over here, unless we grow it by another name.

Apparently in the USA, particularly in the South everybody eats collards. I see them in the supermarket all the time, but have never ingested them. From reading about them, they are supposed to have great nutritional benefits, essentially a green of the cabbage family. I plan of juicing them and using them as a replacement for spinach. Do a Goodle and you will become as knowledgeable as myself. They must be grown in Europe?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collard_greens

Green Aura wrote:Slightly off topic Durgan but does anyone know if there is an alternative UK term for collards? We don't seem to have it over here, unless we grow it by another name.

It's what they sell as "spring greens" in the shops Maggie, which are immature spring cabbage.
When I was a lad spring greens were the shoots of cabbages, kale and Brussel sprouts that were running to seed. Much better in my view as collards or spring cabbages are the only members of the brassica family that I don't like.

Great, I love spring greens! And I have loads of recipes calling for collards. So pretty much anything with bigish floppy leaves. Thankschaps:cheers:

I love spring greens and can't get them in France. I always think of my childhood/adolescence when I think of spring greens and PSB. We must have eaten seasonal food back then.

Millymollymandy wrote:I love spring greens and can't get them in France.

How about growing your own, or is that a bit radical ?

Odsox wrote:

Green Aura wrote:Slightly off topic Durgan but does anyone know if there is an alternative UK term for collards? We don't seem to have it over here, unless we grow it by another name.

It's what they sell as "spring greens" in the shops Maggie, which are immature spring cabbage.

I don't think that's accurate, but they're probably similar enough for recipe substitutions. Collards are in the same family as cabbage, but they aren't cabbages themselves. If you let collards grow, they won't "mature" into cabbages, they just get bigger leaves.

Ellendra wrote:

Odsox wrote:

Green Aura wrote:Slightly off topic Durgan but does anyone know if there is an alternative UK term for collards? We don't seem to have it over here, unless we grow it by another name.

It's what they sell as "spring greens" in the shops Maggie, which are immature spring cabbage.

I don't think that's accurate, but they're probably similar enough for recipe substitutions. Collards are in the same family as cabbage, but they aren't cabbages themselves. If you let collards grow, they won't "mature" into cabbages, they just get bigger leaves.

I think you are correct. The collards in our local supermarket are sold as a tied bunch. The greens are sold mostly loose and they have a finer texture and certainly no collards are included. The lose greens also are recalled periodically due to listeriosis contamination. I never buy them.

I stand corrected.

Durgan wrote:The lose greens also are recalled periodically due to listeriosis contamination. I never buy them.

Maybe another good reason to grow your own ?

When do you plant them out, and also what are they called in French? If they don't exist here I probably won't be able to buy the seeds. No, I'm joking cos I get the things I can't get here from England, but are they sold as spring green seeds?

I avoid most brassicas because of flea beetle so if they need to be planted before August it would be impossible. Also I'd only want a few meals from the greens because I'm inundated with purple curly kale and PSB in the spring.

Someone has 'em ...

http://www.chilternseeds.co.uk/item_135 ... hern_seeds

... and some others seem to, although I'm not at all sure that some of them aren't simply kale.

Mike

I'm surprised people don't find them more commonly,though I think the season here in UK is very short.I've never thought of growing them but I've often seen them in greengrocers,to me they look like greyhound without a heart.